Which House Is Next at China’s Sifang?

The ambitious Sifang project in China’s eastern city of Nanjing featuring designs by two dozen world-renowned architects opened last week, though less than half of the 24 planned buildings were built. Will the others ever be completed?

“Eventually,” promised Lu Xun, Sifang’s 30-year-old director and son of the founder of the park. However, Mr. Lu was coy about firm timelines. Already, it has taken the Lu family a decade and 1 billion yuan ($164.1 million) to complete the 11 buildings that are on display today.

“We’ll complete most of them but some of these will have to undergo some design changes,” said Mr. Lu.

Sifang

A sketch of the house designed by Australian architect Sean Godsell.

Still, he said his family’s company is on track to finish three villas next year -- homes designed by France’s Odile Decq, Australia’s Sean Godsell and Hong Kong’s Liu Heng. The complex is part of their shrine to contemporary architecture, which includes a museum, a hotel, a conference center and 20 villas. None of the buildings will be sold. Rather, the Lu family hopes to maintain the park by renting the villas for short-term stays, events and corporate retreats as well as revenues generated by the conference center and hotel.

The home designed by Ms. Decq, who Mr. Lu described as a “French punk designer,” is nearest completion. Angular and black, the villa sits in the forest like a wayward spaceship.

Others are in various stages of completion: The recreation center, designed by Ettore Sottsass, the late Italian designer, is a concrete shell shrouded in scaffolding. Meanwhile, a house by the Japanese duo behind Pritzker Prize-winning Sanaa has its foundation laid, but little else.

Mr. Lu said he feels especially compelled to finish the Sanaa home. If completed, the villa would be the second one at Sifang designed by a Pritzker Prize winner, the first being one designed by Wang Shu. But Mr. Lu said it’s too costly and difficult to build the house at the moment. For starters, the Sanaa design includes a solid aluminum ring measuring 150 meters (about 495 feet) across, which would cost around 4 million yuan, Mr. Lu said.

“Their architecture is so delicate and fragile, and even Japanese contractors have problems building their designs,” he said. “It’s just not possible in China right now.”